Building a Floating Net Platform for Lobster 'grow-out' Aquaculture

[tsunade]

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My wife's father was from Trinidad, Bohol. His uncle was President Carlos P. Garcia, his mother was Carlos Garcia's sister. My wife remembers Carlos playing his ukulele and singing to her so she would dance for him. He would reward her with fruits and candies. At the time she was perhaps 3 or four years old. After Carlos Garcia die her father and mother moved from Bohol to the Dinagat Island area. I met my wife back when Marcos was still president (just before the People's Power overthrow). I brought my wife to the US and we were married in 1987, and in 2008 I retired and we moved here so my wife could be near her family. We just celebrated our 33rd year of marriage, We have lived here in the Dinagat Island/Surigao City area for over 10 years, and we both love the sea culture.

This style of net platform can easily be used to grow-out saltwater fish species such as milkfish, saltwater catfish, grouper etc. and can also be used in freshwater rivers and lakes areas. They can also be used for raising lobster, shrimp, and crab etc. as they are very adaptable. I still have quite a lot of information to add to this thread which details how they are constructed and detailing how they are used in lobster 'grow-out' aquaculture. Presently this platform is housing 396 latent-juvenile size 'Tiger' lobster in the net enclosure, so I will also be discussing step-by-step how to properly raise 'Tiger' lobster from pueruli (fingerlings) to (500gram) size Sub-adult. I will be discussing their general care, food types and feeding ratios as well as proper net maintenance practices. So I hope you continue to the thread as well as watch videos on my Youtube channel. I am thinking of perhaps starting a website in April or May which will be dedicated to aquaculture/mariculture but I am a retired commercial horticulturalist so I will also be including a wide range of farm and garden topics as well.

do you have a youtube channel? make one i'll sub and follow your channel.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Yes I do https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7R...nZ0MgGyXiJh5KA

I will be adding regular videos on lobster grow-out aquaculture once the weather improves. I have a few videos posted showing this floating net platform in usage, and the housed lobster. I purchased a small underwater camera and I learned a couple of new editing programs which will allow me to start making better quality videos from inside the net, and add voiceovers and slideshows to the video. This will allow me to start providing far more information to these videos which then can be actual training videos on various subjects relating to lobster 'grow-out'. I am learning as I go. The one issue I still need to overcome is the ability to stay at the bottom of the net enclosure for periods up to an hour. This would allow me to better focus the camera work allowing much better video quality. I have been surface snorkeling from an inner-tube and using a long length of bamboo with the camera attached to the end. This makes the video very shaky and difficult to know if the subjects are in frame. I am thanking of designing a small hookah setup. I have a small generator and if I get a small electric compressor then I could use it to sit directly on the bottom floor of the net to shot video, and also to clean and maintain the netting. I am researching that option now.

[tsunade]

Yes I do https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC7R...nZ0MgGyXiJh5KA

I will be adding regular videos on lobster grow-out aquaculture once the weather improves. I have a few videos posted showing this floating net platform in usage, and the housed lobster. I purchased a small underwater camera and I learned a couple of new editing programs which will allow me to start making better quality videos from inside the net, and add voiceovers and slideshows to the video. This will allow me to start providing far more information to these videos which then can be actual training videos on various subjects relating to lobster 'grow-out'. I am learning as I go. The one issue I still need to overcome is the ability to stay at the bottom of the net enclosure for periods up to an hour. This would allow me to better focus the camera work allowing much better video quality. I have been surface snorkeling from an inner-tube and using a long length of bamboo with the camera attached to the end. This makes the video very shaky and difficult to know if the subjects are in frame. I am thanking of designing a small hookah setup. I have a small generator and if I get a small electric compressor then I could use it to sit directly on the bottom floor of the net to shot video, and also to clean and maintain the netting. I am researching that option now.

subbed, thank you.

[diablo85]

keep it up...(,")..

[jamesmusslewhite]

Subbing videos is an issue for me right now. My wife could help as she lived for 22 years with me in the US, but she is already overwhelmed with what she is already doing. She has a small day-resort here on the little island where we are presently living, plus she already works with me on the lobster production as well as her own lobster 'grow-out' hut. We also have a 5.5 hector family farm on Dinagat Island. She has to do all the translating for me as well as coordinating workers, arranging all lobster food deliveries and all logistics.

When I can find someone else who is fluent in English I which to have all my videos re-dubbed to Tagalog with Surugonon, Cebuano and Bisaya subtitles. This is most Filipinos will have access to the information in a dialect they are comfortable with. With luck I can work with local schools and fishery departments to assist in the project.

I plan on starting to build a website in April where I will be uploading all my written works and videos. All this material I will need to be translated. This website will have two distinct sections of mirrored threads. One section in English and the other is Filipino so the information can be read, fully understood and openly discussed. I was a commercial horticulturist with a background in botany and biology with over 33 years experience in tropical and subtropical environments. So the website will have topics on freshwate/saltwater 'grow-out' aquaculture/mariculture but I will also have threads on farm & garden, square foot/square meter gardening, aquaponics, hydroponics, organics, composting/soil technologies among other topics. I have over 4,000 friends on Facebook and almost 20,000 members on my Facebook Farm & Garden group as well as the Youtube. So I expect once I get the website up and running it will quickly find a ready audience and grow rather quickly.

The reason for the website is to preserve and protect the written work and videos. I have had a lot of previous work simply disappear to to forum sites failures and forum closures, and many forums simply do not allow moderation features which allows threads to be updated and repaired. Having this information on a website which I can organize would allow topics to be easily accessed and far easier to follow topics than in single-line column as used in blogs and Facebook groups. I hope the website will attract professionals in related fields who will be willing to post their own articles on the site, so Filipinos can have easy access to current updated knowledge and best techniques. My primary goal is education and a place where locals and come to discuss both hobbies and professions with like-minded kindred spirits.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Thank you, I am now almost 61 years old, and I hope I will still be posting 61 years from now.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Well the nasty weather subsided and we are now ready to pull the platform out to deeper water and temporarily anchor it. This is so we can stop chasing all the little kids fixated and determined to climb all over the bamboo frame as if it is a combination 'Jungle-Jim' and dive-platform. We would often look up to see 50 or more children swinging all over the frame and combined their weight and stress could cause damage to the frame. Now once all the remaining bamboo and lashings are added it will of course will be far stronger. I had to wait a couple of weeks before I could pull the platform out to deeper water because owner of that capsized blue fish boat, which was beached in front of our front gate, could coordinate the logistics needed to ready the vessel to be towed to another location. We were only waiting for the weather conditions to be favorable. Once the vessel was removed I could then tow the platform to the space I had chosen and properly anchor it to the seabed.



the following photos show us moving the platform out of the way so the owner of the vessel could bring his crew in to remove his fishing boat.





and now that we have the platform moved out of the way, there is plenty of room for a boat crew to maneuver. They are finally going to remove their vessel which had been beached right outside our front gate for almost a year. And once removed we can then tow the bamboo platform into place where it will be properly anchored. I have interesting 'yard art'.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Once our platform was safely out of the work area the boat crew moved in to ready the boat for the tow.









the emptied all the water from the two fish holds and several used small fishing boats to pull the hull high enough to lash ropes and plastic drums on the bottom side, This would allow the hull to remain buoyant while preventing the hull to roll under by waves while being towed. It may not be pretty but it was effective as the boat made it safely several island away from and being pulled through the currents of the Surigao Straights.



The crew only took a few hours to remove their vessel and were abbe then to pull the platform back were we could easily finish the tasks needed so it could be anchored in deeper water. We tied the frame to a coconut tree. Then early the next day we made some weights and then pulled the platform out into the deeper, located water 15 meters directly in front of our front-gate. There it wold be easy to tend to the lobster fingerlings every day, and to keep a close eye on the cage at night.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Now while we were in the process of building the platform there were some foul-weather days as well as down time for various reasons. This was when we worked on the 'grow-out' nets.



The 3-net 'grow-out' system which I designed to use on the platform. The requires a large 'grow-out' net which is designed to easily house 800 Adult (1,000 gram) size individuals.



basically the large 'grow-out' net is lashed to the top sides and bottom of the bamboo frame. The bamboo frame is suspended above the waterline by the buoyancy provided by the 55-gal. plastic drums which are mounted under the walkway.



the larger 'grow-out' net is used to house Latent-juveniles, Sub-adults and Adult size individuals and a net this size can easily house comfortably 800 (1,000 gram) Adult size individuals. This platform was designed to be used for research the developmental stages which range from early-stage Pueruli (clear) through 1,000-gram size individuals. To strictly observe the individuals through each of their many developmental stages and regularly chart weigh, carapace length and total length. To feed a diverse diet to determine fed preferences and monitor growth, weight gain, and exoskeleton luster and color; allowing the formulation of (developmental Stage) tailored diets.



I will also be deploying various Pueruli/early stage Juvenile 'live-capture' traps near our farm on Dinagat Island which will be quickly transferred to the platform and placed on one of two Nursery 'grow-out' nets'.



The first Nursery net is used to house early stage Pueruli which is a non-feeding stage. They will be housed in the enclosure and when they are close to Instar (moult) they will be isolated until they successfully transition and Instar (moult) to Algal-juveniles.

[jamesmusslewhite]

Algal-juveniles can be quite aggressive and prone to cannibalism which is why they must be removed from the first Nursery 'grow-out' net' and relocated to the secondary Nursery 'grow-out' net.



Here inside this enclosure the young Algal-juveniles will remain and continue to develop. These individuals are simply too aggressive and cannibalistic to remain housed with the Pueruli stage individuals, but are simply too underdeveloped to be housed among the latent-juveniles, Sub-adults and Adults. They will remain in this enclosure until they have developed to 70-gram Post-algal size individuals where they will be relocated to the main 'grow-out' net enclosure.



The large main 'grow-out' enclosure houses latent Post-algal, Late-juvenile, Sub-Adult, and Adult size individuals. As I mentioned earlier this large net can comfortably house 800 (1,000 gram) Adult size individuals, so when the time comes that the net capacity proves insufficient, I will have already built a second floating platform which will be used to house latent Sub-adults and Adult individuals.



This photo shows the frame of the first Nursery 'grow-out' net and the netting being readied so it can be lashed to the PVC frame. If you look closely you will notice there is a divider as this is actually two nets in one. The pueruli are housed in the larger section. The second section is for latent Pigment-pueruli so they can be isolated before they Instar (moult) and transition to young Algal-juveniles. This isolation is for two reasons. 1.) is that after they successfully Instar (moult) their new exoskeleton is so soft that for the first 10 hours it will not the weight enough to stand. The exoskeleton will need 7-10 days to properly harden. During this time that can be adequately feed as they were previously in a non-feeding phase. 2.) if left among the Pueruli they would prey on the Pueruli, but if latent Pigment-pueruli are put in the second 'grow-out' net to moult they will quickly become prey themselves.



This photo shows the size of the net Nursery 'grow-out' nets. My wife stands 5 foot so it is easy to gauge the dimensions of the net.



And this is a photo of the first 'grow-out' net being readied to be towed to the Floating Platform. The two 'grow-out' nets float inside the main 'grow-out' net and held in place using a singe line of nylon cord. When not in use during they are simply removed, thoroughly cleaned and stored on-land and should provide many years of dependable service.